Apple reports all-time high revenue in 4th quarter

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 1 (Xinhua) -- U.S. top hi-tech leader Apple said Thursday that it has achieved an all-time high revenue for its fiscal fourth quarter ended Sept. 30, 2017, with an increase of 12 percent.

The Silicon-Valley based hi-tech leader registered a quarterly revenue of 52.6 billion U.S. dollars, up 12 percent over the same period of the previous year, Apple said in a statement.

The record gains have pushed the company's quarterly earnings per diluted share (EPS) up 24 percent to reach 2.07 dollars.

"We're happy to report a very strong finish to a great fiscal 2017, with record fourth quarter revenue, year-over-year growth for all our product categories," said Apple CEO Tim Cook.

Apple's products sold well outside the U.S. as the company said its international sales accounted for 62 percent of the quarter's revenue.

Apple's Chief Financial Operator (CFO) Luca Maesti said the company has generated a strong operating cash flow of 15.7 billion dollars, of which 11 billion dollars went back to investors through its "capital return program."

Apple expects to generate about 84 billion to 87 billion dollars in revenue for its first fiscal quarter in 2018.